shame you into changing your opinion, be careful, we will call you out on it. maria: we are. we are not going to get scared or shamed. dagen mcdowell, kevin kelly and lee carter. see you sunday. stuart: with an intro like that how can i lose? the tax plan is a big plus for business. finally the trump growth agenda starts to roll. good morning, everyone. first look at this, i hate to be technical. rise in interest rates, that's a huge rise, that's a sign that investors expect growth. the rate rise began as the tax plan was being revealed. here is why. a 20% tax rate on big companies to bring back some of the 2 and a half trillion that's parked overseas. that surely helps growth. 25% top rate on small business puts a lot of money into the pockets of job creators and

immediate write-off for investments encourages spending on equipment of machinery. all of the above are progrowth, probusiness. now, for individuals, middle america wince. but for high-income people, not so again -- generous, maybe a higher rate if you make big money and wealthy in democrat states may lose lucrative reduction like the states right there. my opinion, something very much like this will pass. all right, now look at this. new fox poll confirm that is the president's approval rating is moving up. 42% now. it was in the mid-30's just a few weeks ago. things are looking up including the economy, growing at 3.1% annualized rate in the second quarter. first time we have seen that in years. varney & company is about to begin.

♪ ♪ >> our framework includes explicit commitment that tax reform will protect low-income and middle-income households, not the wealthy and well connected. they can call me all they want, it's not going to help. i'm doing the right thing and it's not good for me, believe me. stuart: comes right out with it. this plan is not that great for rich people like me, him, as in. the deduction for state and local taxes may go away, the horror, that will not sit well with republicans and democrats alike in high-taxed states like new york, new jersey, california, connecticut and illinois. the rich could end up paying more. we will get to that in a moment. look at futures how the market will open in future, half hour from now. second quarter economic growth, e finaleading revised upward to an annualized gain of 3.1%

but we will open a little lower despite hitting a series of highs yesterday. that ten-year treasury, 2.34%. again, don't want to be technical, that kind its investors think there's a lot of growth coming with this new tax plan. look who is here, brian brendberg, business professor at the king's college in new york. here is my statement, this is a probusiness, progrowth tax cutting agenda and you say? >> i say it's a proinvestment, prohiring expansion tax cut. it's absolutely what the economy needs to grow, to get people back to work to do everything americans voted for donald trump to do. stuart: what he does for business and economy, you like it? >> it's good for middle americans. stuart: if we get it this year, it takes effect early next year, i've got it. if we do that, what rate of growth do we have in the middle of next year? >> i think we can get to 3 and a half assessment.

that's pretty optimistic if we get a tax cut that looks like the one that's been proposed. it can't be watered down, stuart. this is a tax cut for the rich rhetoric. stuart: got it. beg anything like -- negative h. i don't think it will explode but increase the deficit specially when you think of harvey, irma, maria, texas, florida, puerto rico plus tax cuts, that deficit goes way up. brian: it's already exploding. tax cuts aren't meant to pay for themselves. this is the thing that we come back to. i disagree with it. cut spending, reform entitlement. stuart: that's not going to happen. >> the tax cut by itself is progrowth, you want to critique republicans, talk about spending reform not tax cuts. that's where you make something happens. stuart: gary cohn said that cuts will pay for itself with growth down the road, are youn board?

>> no, i don't think they will. we don't have to put the burden on tax cuts, that's a bridge too far. you cut taxes, reform spending to balance the budget. that's the only way to get there. there's no magic bullet. stuart: you get that package in place and 3 and a half percent. >> if you get this package and doesn't get diluted, stuart. stuart: fox news contributor lisa boothe, columnist with the washington examiner is with us. >> hi, stuart. stuart: hello, lisa, i don't know whether it takes 50 votes or 60 votes, does this package pass in the kind of format that we just saw? >> i think something will pass. i don't know about the form at, right -- format, right now we have a framework, once we get to legislative proposal, i don't know what that's going to look like. the senate needs to pass budget and the house and senate need to agree on a budget and we will

get to actual details of tax reform. i certainly hope something gets done. we have seen conservative groups come out and fully endorsement, americans for tax reform, endorsement -- stuart: freedom caucus says they'll vote as a block, in the house, that is. i can't see republicans in the senate just turning down tax cuts no matter what the formeat -- format is. >> rublicans are feeling the pressure on failing on health care. stuart: yeah. >> if we don't get something done with taxes, we are dead. what argument do they have to then go make to 2018 voters in mid-term elections of anything they accomplished if they don't get anything done here. i think that's very fresh in their mind. stuart: lisa, i'm quite prepared to say that tax package gets done but you're not? >> i think -- i think there's going to be some more details involved so i don't know what

that looks like, what the final product looks like. i think something gets done, it needs to get done both politically and to help the economy as well. we have seen democrats, stuart, as you pointed out, they are already on the oh, this business -- benefits the rich. stuart: tired, tired old slogan, it benefit it is rich and the big corporations, come on. >> i agree with you, stuart, we have seen democrat groups take out six-figure ad buy against rob bloon. i don't know how republicans respond to that. i hope the swing-district people don't buy into that, don't feel the pressure and i hope they combat it the way that you just did and be strong and not buy into the demagoguery that we see from the left. stuart: presidential approval rating, 42%, moving up. i say that politically the president is beginning to move up and you say? >> i think he will keep moving

up particularly if he had a -- he was responsive to harvey and to the hurricane in florida as well. we are seeing it with puerto rico as well. i think that helped him as well. showing that he's a commander in chief responding in the way that he would want him to respond to that. if republicans do get something done in congress on tax reform that will help him greatly because he will have a win under his belt that he can take to the american people. so i think we can definitely see that continue to tick up upwards. stuart: a win is very attractive thing in this particular climate. what doesn't like it? lisa, thank you very much indeed for joining us. >> have a great day. stuart: okay, check this out. another airline drags inciden a woman on board a southwest airlines flight dragged off the plane after she claimed she had a deadly allergy to dogs and insisted that two dogs be removed from the flight. southwest airlines apologized to

the passenger, what do you think of that, liz? >> there's more to the story, she was offered an allergy shot, she didn't have the medical certificate, they tried to accommodate and charged with disorderly conduct and disrupting the peace. stuart: stuart, this is a tease. >> we got excited about the story. stuart: i feel strongly about it. we have gone rogue. okay. now, more negative for apple, supply problems for the iphone 10 could mean you won't get hands in february, therefore no iphone 10 for christmas and this supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg getting political again. there's no doubt about it, sexism was a big reason why hillary clinton lost the election. don't say anything, liz. just save it. [laughter] stuart: we have this, hugh hefner, the man behind playboy

died of natural causes. he was 91 year's old

stuart: well you look at this. oil is at five-month high. i wonder if that's got something to do with the expectation of growth in the future because of tax plan. maybe. 52 bucks on oil. how about this one? air passengers worldwide suffering a major disruption on various airports. this is around the world. ashley: problems with a glitch, you love that word, glitch, sounds so trivial, it really isn't if you are trying to get onto a plane. this deals with the reservation check-in desks, airlines subscribe to program amadeos, a spanish company, there's a glitch, they have fixed it they say and things are getting back to normal. there was delay in south of london, south africa, australia, a lot of companies, southwest is one that subscribes but they are

getting back to normal slowly but surely. don't you just love flying? stuart: no, i don't. i deliberately avoid it if i possibly can. ashley: private jet. stuart: i don't have a private jet. i rent one. [laughter] stuart: let's get ladies and gentlemen of the -- removing state and local tax deductions really hurts democrats in high-taxed states. right? >> absolutely. you know, there's still are a few republican congressmen in new york, california, new jersey and connecticut. it'll be interest they do in a year that's likely to be democratic. that's an open question, stuart. stuart: that's the idea of not allowing the deduction for state and local taxes. the president did not mention that yesterday. he alluded to it. it's not on paper in the plan, i

don't think. it's something you can bring in as last resort later if you want to get joe manchin, low-taxed with democrats in the senate, they could come across for that? >> i don't think they will, stuart, for one simple reason. they get campaign funds from the high-taxed states and joe manchin, ed al, they will hear from their friends and supporters in new york and los angeles, rest assured. stuart: you don't think there's going to be any democrat support for the current -- for the tax plan as unveiled yesterday? >> as i read it, i am skeptical. until we see how it's paid for, what's done about things like estate tax, the way the pass-through for business works, i think it's still a very big question mark and i'm leaning no. stuart: that's a bit rich, isn't it? democrats are going to wait to

see if it's paid for, we can't explode the deficit, we can't raise the deficit, what did democrats do with the deficit for the last eight years, i believe they doubled it. yeah, i would behe first one to acknowledge that they didn't do what we did in the clinton administration which was to reduce it, but rather than being a bit rich, stuart, i think it's a bit poor because we are going to lose a lot of revenue, i fear with this plan and that's going to get tough to get through in difficult economic times. stuart: you don't think that a growth rate of 3 and 4%, gary cohn said, a growth rate of 3, 3 and a half percent will pay for this thing over the life of it. >> well, i'm not sure he knows because the plan hasn't been fully priced out. i think we all hope as americans that we get that kind of growth rate but that's not written down anywhere and that's not guarantied. stuart: we disagree entirely. ruth bader ginsburg, supreme court justice, no doubt sexism

affected the election. michelle obama criticizes women who voted against hillary clinton. as former clinton pollster and still a democrat, what do you say to this resurgence of identity politics in the democrat party? >> i say move on. let's talk about the issues like tax reform and fixing health care. i was encouraged the president wants to work on health care on a bipartisan basis. those are the conversations we should be having rather than rehashing the last election and deciding whether sexism was one of the purported reasons that caused hillary clinton the white house. stuart: you seem subdue this morning. i don't know why. maybe because you're not sitting next to me. could it be -- >> i wish i was sitting next to you. i'm in la la land, stuart, i'm in los angeles. give me some, you know, slack

for being in the land of the stars. stuart: no. president trump is upswing, his approval gone to 42%, tax plan on the table, the core of his growth agenda, that's why you're not exactly percy this morning because the other side is winning. >> i don't think they are winning at 42 and given roy moore's victory on tuesday in alabama. i hardly call that a win for the president. i support anything that does bipartisanship. i hope we do it on taxes too. i will get animated about that if we can get a bipartisan tax plan, so far no dice. stuart: got it. thank you very much, doug, come back to reality. >> i look forward. stuart: the new fox poll on the nfl protests, look at this, the majority of people, 55% say they think it is inappropriate to take a knee during the national anthem. president trump on "fox & friends" doubling down on his

criticism of players who don't stand for the anthem, called the protests disgraceful. watch this. >> why aren't they honoring this country by enforcing a rule that's been in existence for a long time? so the nfl and the players really have to do the honor of the country, for the honor of the country, they have to respect our country. they have to respect our flag and anthem. i think they are aaid of their players, if you want to know the truth. i think that's disgraceful

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stuart: we are going to open the t market lower this morning. we dropped a little from there but not much. news on chevron, ceo john watson announces he's retiring, michael will take over as ceo. no impact on the stock whatsoever. look at this, one jpmorgan chase analyst, encouraging investors to bet against cbs. liz: fans want the football players to stand during the national anthem, he's saying that cbs' ad revenue from nfl games, 10% of overall revenues.

he's saying it could take a hit because what he's watching are two things, he's watching basically whether the stock breaks down below 50, he thinks it will because ratings have been going down and secondly he's watching jersey sales, sports memorabilia and sports gear in stadium, the number one best-selling jersey alejandro villanueva, he's saying that's proxy. anth protest, for example, cleveland, jones, stop commercial during nfl games. ashley: he has a couple of businesses and he's being supportive of the nfl and pulling all of advertising, he runs a clothing company, suits, that i use for those people on air, cover national football league for nbc, he's pulling commercials for that, check into cash company, he's ordered his ad company, his ad-buying

company, i don't want to have my company appear anywhere nfl game for the entire season. stuart: there's an nfl game tonight, thursday night football, packers are playing. packers instructed their fans to link arms, what's that all about? what does that mean, link arms in support of what? ashley: i don't know, a bit cob fusing. are you supporting the players taking a kneel or -- what are you doing? >> flag is a symbol of freedom and not oppression. it's inappropriate, disgraceful and needs to stop. stuart: president trump appeared on "fox & friends" this morning, he really singled out the owners, you lost control, get a grip. i think that's absolutely true. i think we are done with that. ly show -- i will show you now that the dow industrials will open up lower, down 40 point but still will be very close to record high territory and we will be back

stua: folks, i have a dilemma. 30 seconds to go for opening in wall street. help me, there, ash.

liz: you're doing great. >> national anthem? >> no. stuart: i would willingly sing it myself but i wouldn't take the knee. 3 seconds to go. [laughter] >> nice job. stuart: backdrop here is the tax package we've got and we've opened up down. 34 points, 37. 25 points. a lot of red on the left-hand side. that's not a selloff. how about s&p 500, where are we? it is down a tinny, tinny fraction, .09%. nasdaq same story, down a quarter of a percent there. here is a key indicater. we don't use this very often but it is important. that rate has gone way up since yesterday afternoon when the tax package was announced. that is an indicater that

investors think that growth is coming from this tax package. do you agree with me? ashley: i do. stuart: let me introduce you formally ashley webster, jack, welcome all. all right, at the top of the hour, right at 9:00 o'clock i came out and said that finally the trump growth agenda has started to roll with this tax package. jack, i think it's very much probusiness and progrowth and what say you? >> it's definitely probusiness. you could get a boost in the stock market, corporate rates come down, progrowth, you might get smidgen, whatever extra growth you get in the top, i don't think it's enough to pay for the plan. stuart: you're not a big fan? >> i'm a big fan of tax reform, tax cuts done right. we don't know the brackets, we don't know what happens to america's middle class.

liz: they are growing a new bracket, zero tax bracket. 45% of taxpayers now will be in zero bracket. that's a help for the middle class. >> you need to know every bracket to know how it's going to shake out. if the wealthy do well, no change for the poor. liz: that will help with the tax. >> we need to know the brackets that hit the middle class. stuart: you might have a brand new, huge tax rate for wealthy people and might lose tax deduction. the rich could end up paying more on this. >> one big thing, stuart, the reduction in tax rate will help smaller businesses, that is going to -- stuart: yes. >> that's the biggest job engine we have in the country. that is is the key. liz: that's how you solve income

inequality, by the way. stuart: that is a huge tax cut. that's proowth. be quiet. [laughter] >> 20% corporate rate is a good idea. that might actually pay for itself. stuart: back on the show. listen, how about the iphone 10. production delays. that could push shipments back to february so you'll miss the christmas selling season, that's not -- >> it's terrible. people aren't buying the 8 and people saying that's all right, they are holding out for the 10. if they don't get hands on 10, it's a real problem for apple. >> i'm shorting apple right now, stuart. it has done very well. and i believe this is going to upset the apple card for fourth quarter earnings, they are going to miss, they are going to miss fourth quarter earnings and i think -- stuart: by the way,

that means if you're short something, you're betting that the stock goes down. you will make money in the stock goes down. what kind of an american are you? toshiba is selling its memory chip unit to a group led by u.s. private equity firm. i believe that apple is involved as well. >> they make flash memory chip that is you need to store photos, videos, phone numbers on iphones and i pads, so this is a big deal, toshiba is struggling to get out of bankruptcy. with apple the iphone x apple is warning that facial recognition doesn't work for 13 years or younger. they need help with software. ashley: bizarre, isn't it? >> it's very specific. 1the usual 45. liz: children's faces look the same. they are developing. they cannot use fake ill

recognition unlock. stuart: we are down 34 points. individual stocks making news. how about po1, they lost money, a lot of money, down 7%. but, higher profit, actually they made a profit, we are talking blackberry here. the company is saying, we've got a complete transformation and the stock is up 10%. weak sales, huge branding company, they've got pam, the spray, the stuff, okay. ready whip, peanut butter and they are up nearly 3%, big gain. you see all of the spices in the mccormick grand, they are up.

weaker sales. wal-mart relaunching its parents choice baby brand separately. they will offer free same-day delivery in new york city. >> a year ago wal-mart bought jet.com. that was laughable. wal-mart is so far behind amazon. look things are happening right now for wal-mart. it's starting to do more and more. same-delay delivery is a big deal and jet.com is providing that ability and roll it out to the broader company. wal-mart stock is working this year and i think it's working for a rson. i think there's more going on here for wal-mart in e-commerce than people realize. 60% growth. >> capitalism at work. who would have thought we would be arguing about same-day delivery from who. target has been doing it. stuart: you could say that southwest airlines has a public

relations from incident. police dragged a woman, another dragging incident, what happened? liz: she's been arrested for disorderly conduct and not following a reasonable order. she said there were two dogs in the flight, she had a life-threatening allergy. the crew tried to work with her for 45 minutes. we can give you an allergy shot, i don't have the medical certificate. the pilot said if you want to step off the plane we can give you the shot, she declined. at that point the police came in and pulled her off. stuart: what do you do with a passenger who is disrupting the flight and won't get out of her seat? what do you do? >> can we test her for pet allergies? people say are allergic to glut. liz: she needed to get back -- ashley: california professor. stuart: where is brian

brendberg. amazon story of the day releasing echo products, alexa comes in all shapes and sizes, none of them cost more than 150 bucks. the stock is virtually unchanged. anybody buying the alexa around here? do you have one? >> all over the house. stuart: you've got one. liz: i've got two. stuart: jack, you have one? >> i don't have one. amazon is killing with the boxes. gateway to home automation. there's a lot going on. stuart: is it going to go back to a thousand bucks a share? >> amazon? stuart: yes. >> most certainly. stuart: put the flags out, boys and girls. he likes it. the streaming video device maker roku trading in the nasdaq, are you buying it? >> i like roku, i like it on the

first pullback. you get nice pullback, roku is the best streaming box, can their marketing keep up with how good their hardware is? that's the whole story. stuart: i get roku boxes, plug on tv, i can watch amazon, hulu. liz: sorry, lg smart tv's and smart tv's in general are getting so good but you may not need roku. stuart: you know what i want, i want a box that i plug into the tv and i say, tv on, fox business now and it goes on. that's what i want. ashley: i think you can do that. >> that's called a butler and you can afford one. stuart: that's what i want. [laughter] stuart: butler. >> you're not kind to me. britain's prime minister theresa may she has traded war with the

u.s. ashley: she has. canadian company but they are made in northern ireland. 219% import tariff that the u.s. commerce wants to put on this claiming that they are unfairly subsidized by the states. stuart: he would like a better trade relationship. ashley: she will need one after brexit. stuart: 9:40 p.m., identify -- i've got to say good-bye to dr and jack. >> thank you. stuart: down only 30 points. 22,300. china says north korean businesses that operate inside its borders have to shut down by january, ouch. not used to this, are we? part of the latest round of un sanctions against north korea. harry dent, frequent guest on the program, he's the man who is

always looking for a stock market crash, well, he's a puerto rico resident. we spoke to him after the hurricane hit, he was scared, he said he had to get off the island and we will get an update. he's still in puerto rico. we will be back in a moment

>> i think i'm going to have to get out of here. this is way worse and this was just a direct hit, it accelerated in the last few hours before it hit. it was much worse than originally built. i don't see how puerto rico can function. stuart: that was market watcher. he's often on the show. he watches the stock market. harry dent, he lives in puerto rico, as you heard there, he was trying to ride out the storm in the middle of it he was talking

to ashle on t show. he's back with us on the phone now. you know, that was life or death back then, how are you doing now? >> well, you know, the aftermath, stuart, is almost worse because there are literally no electricity unless you have a generator and generators need diesel and you have to stand in line to get a couple of gallons of diesel because they are always out of that. food, you to wait in lines, they have nothing on the shelves. water, most people don't have water. our condo has a generator, sends us water every three to four hours at random which is really nice but nobody else has this sort of stuff. i was talking to a public health official from the states that's been down here since irma, he works with the real people here and he said, they are pissed. i mean, they are frustrated, there's a curfew from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. every night. they keep saying they are going to lift it, they don't.

there's a back on all alcohol sales except hotels because they want to keep tourists drunk and happy but they don't want locals to be drinking because they get more angry. it's really bad here. i have a place -- i moved down here because i have a vacation home on one of the two islands, virgin island of culebra. airport got totally taken out by broken planes, lost radar, nobody can fly in there. they have gotten no supplies, no aid and they are really on edge there with some lifting the jones act thing maybe a boat will get over there. i'm getting out on saturday if my plane takes off. that's the earliest i could get off. my wife got out on saturday. stuart: harry,hank you very much for being with us this morning. we are using you as reporter on

the scene in a dire emergency in puerto rico. thanks very much for that input, harry, come to see us when you get back to mainland. >> i'm going to be in new york soon. stuart: you'll be on. we will bring you back. i want to stay on puerto rico, rachel campos duffy is with us. the president is being criticized by some for what some think of as a slow response to puerto rico. what's your perspective on this? >> i think it has been slow. i read reports that the response was the same as it was for harvey and irma except that in puerto rico the devastation was worse and, of course, there's all the other obstacles because it's an island and i think the response has been slow. i'm really encouraged by the fact the president is, indeed, going to be going next week. when he's on the ground and seating it -- the long-term impact for puerto rico is very bad, they're going to need long-term help to rebuild the infrastructure. stuart: do you think the

criticism of the president was valid that he and his administration has been slow? >> i think it's been slow but i also think that a lot of puerto ricans and a lot of hispanics were frustrated because so much attention has been directed to the nfl and puerto rico, these are americans and it's been interesting as this as unfolded to learn how many americans to learn that puerto ricans are americans, they deserve the same kind of response and attention, imagine if during the hurricane in -- in texas or florida, he was talking about the nfl, people we wanted to see him giving the media attention that he only he can bring. i think that will happen next week and, listen, there's 5,000 active dut people, 600 fema, there's a navy hospital ship on its way and it has been super encouraging that he has lifted the jones act with which will allow foreign ships to come in to help as well. stuart: we should tell our

viewers about this. it was this morning the jones act was lifted, the jones act -- >> waived. >> they can only use an american ship to supply. >> have to go to the u.s. first and then to puerto rico. now they can go directly to puerto rico with help. stuart: that's a no-brainer. >> hello. stuart: exactly, rachel. last word to you, do you think things will pick up really soon? >> i do. i think the president's visit will redirect attention and rebuilding their infrastructure which is deteriorated and not good to begin with actually could provide a new start to build stronger. i just encourage americans after puerto rico recovers from all this, don't go to cuba, spend your tourist dollars in puerto rico, it's making america great again and there's no repression and dictatorships that your money will go to. so think about puerto rico.

american, caribbean island and will get rebuilt and that's where you should go. stuart: rachel campos duffy, thank you very much. we are down 17 points. pretty much flat. 23,300. the nfl streaming live on amazon tonight. how about that? nike ole, tell me about it. nicole: stuart, you can wch the bears-packers game on your amazon, if you're amazon prime member, only for prime members, $50 million for this. the question is can the nfl games really work on a streaming service. they did it with twitter, they had 266,000 last year versus cbs which would have 15 million viewers and they are hoping that now on amazon's platform, amazon paid 50 million versus 10 million that twitter paid last year, the exact market that they are looking for.

we will see whether or not it takes off. the other comparison the football people tell me that bears-packers is a better start-up. stuart: i want to know if amazon people stream will appreciate any anthem protests because they don't appreciate it on broadcast nicole: no one is appreciating that controversy. stuart: i'm not going to get into it. interesting news out of venezuela. the country's socialist president telling his military leaders to get their rifles, missiles and tanks ready for a war with the united states. we will be back see a breakdown of costs. what? it's just.... we were going to ask about it but we weren't sure when. so thanks. being upfront is how edward jones makes sense of investing.

so new touch screens... and biometrics. in 574 branches. all done by... yesterday. ♪ ♪ banks aren't just undergoing a face lift. they're undergoing a transformation. a data fueled, security driven shift in applications and customer experience. which is why comcast business delivers consistent network performance and speed across all your locations. hello, mr. deets. every branch running like headquarters. that's how you outmaneuver.

stuart: venezuela prepares for war with the united states, elizabeth. liz: this is a really staged media event by maduro. he's saying this in opposition of president trump, we cannot standby and watch what is going on in venezuela. the president said that at the un recently. russian jets flew over, we are getting tanks ready, missiles ready. we are hearing word that the military officials are now talking about regime change, the necessity for that. this is news coming out of

reports of venezuela right now. stuart: regime change. the words that mr. maduro want to hear. beijing orderers north korean businesses in china, hey, shut down. that's news, ash. ashley: 120 days to shut down entirely and get out. north korean businesses in china. this is part of the sanctions that were passed september 12th, this is going to have a big impact. don't forget pyongyang is beijing -- beijing to pyongyang is main ally, 90% of commerce from north korea comes from china. there's always the question of china, are they doing deals around the back that we don't see. on the surface, this is another big pressure move on kim jong un that china is following through on from the sanctions at the un. it's encouraging and you could argue donald trump is getting china to play along by putting these very strong economic pressures. stuart: no other american president has successfully put

pressure on china to do anything and now china has said, your bank is going to close and your businesses, get out. we have never see that before. ashley: ner. stuart: no other pdent achieved any kind of leverage move with china. i don't think mr. trump will get the credit, but he deserves. tax reform push is on the way and we have every angle covered for you including the left using the same-old slogan to criticize the plan. hour three -- no, hour two is three minutes away. ashley: there you go. [laughter]

. . . . .

stuart: the response of the left to the president's tax cut plan looks old, looks tired. is same old, same old. charles schumer, nancy pelosi, democrat leaders in the senate and house made speeches that could have been made 30 years ago in response to the reagan tax cuts or 15 years ago in response to the bush tax cuts.

it is a giveaway to the rich. it's a giveaway to the big corporations. that's right, same old, same old. the mainstream media, they take what i call a sarcastic approach. "new york times," the trump tax plan benefits the wealthy including himself even though the president said the exact opposite. "the washington post" says, the gop pitches deep tax cuts with few details on paying for them. trump's tax speech filled with his usual inaccurate claims. that is the best they got? tired old slons and low level politicalniping? the truth is president trump will got a lot of support for his tax plan. from the rich democrats of california and new york but the states that desperately need jobs. west virginia, ohio, a whole lot more. you get growth from jobs, not tax-and-spend. since the election in january, president has not had an easy time.

some of the problems are his own making. starting six weeks ago with general kelly clamming down on a chaotic white house. things are starting to look up. with a tax plan at table, the growth agenda can start to move forward. that is what has his opponents on the left really worried of the plan is politically doable. it is geared to middle america, promoting growth and prosperity. something wrong with that? the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ it is thursday morning, 10:00 eastern. we have latest on mortgage rates. give me the number. ashley: 30-year fixed-rate, freddy back, 3.83%. nicely under 4%. still the same as it was last week but still historically low, stuart. we say this every week, you remember what, paying 12%? stuart: i paid 12 1/2% in california late 198s.

ashley: 18%. stuart: elizabeth, what did you pay. liz: both of you should have waited. i paid 4%. a young man on the set never heard of double-digit mortgage rates. >> never. your generation screwed it up. stuart: we'll get more from lawrence jones in just a moment. individual companies making financial reports and stock price is moving. first of all, pier 1, they lost money. stock is down 8%. higher revenue as mccormack spice. that is enough for 5 1/2% gain. look at technology stocks, i have a couple news items there. amazon opening the fifth fulfillment center in ojai, euclid. 1000 jobs there. apple iphone 10 production delays could push shipments back to february. you might miss christmas if you

want the x for christmas. price of oil may be responding to the growth which some are expecting from the tax-cut package. $52 per barrel on oil. i want to get back to the left's opposition to the president's tax reform plan. listen to one democrat congressman who did not hesitate to tell maria what is wrong with it. roll tape. >> right now a lot of happy talk. we need to get into the details. first the happy talk of this will increase deficit in the united states from 2 1/2 trillion to five trillion dollars. so if you're a deficit hawk, you have to be very, very careful what we're talking about here. with regard to income inequality, there is a probability at least what we know, there would be increase in income inequality as a result of this. stuart: that is interesting. a democrat worried about the deficit, having exploded it and doubled it the last eight years. however i digress.

let's bring in tony sayegh, u.s. treasury assistant secretary for public affairs. tony, what is your reaction of laundry list from the talking points from the democrats? i know what it is going to be, but do it. >> good morning stuart. great to be with your panel and viewers. what is interesting, last eight years led to know wage growth. we focused on distribution. when you think the democrats are suggesting we'll bust the deficit, essentially from a group that doubled the debt in eight years because of their policies. we're confident with the growth we're projecting from tax reform, base broaden, pay fors in this, we'll get to actual deficit reduction within the next 10 years to pay down the debt. that is very important aspect. we have to revised growth number of 3.1% in the second quarter. democrats saying we can't sustain 3% growth ongoing. that is simply false. we don't want to engage in the political rhetoric here. the bottom line, the american economy needs to grow.

we need a tax system that works for everybody, not just the wealthy and well-connected and lobby its here in washington and we need jobs for american workers and pay raises now. stuart: i don't think it was in, 13-page document, i don't think this was in, getting rid of deduction of state and local taxes. d think it was in the written form of the 13-page document. that is a big deal, isn't it? that is how you soak the rich, if they no longer deduct taxes they're paying in new york, california, et cetera, they end up paying more in this. have i got the math right here? >> you're exactly right, stuart. we do call in the framework, elimination of all itemized deduction. state and local is a big one. it is worth almost $1.3 trillion. ironically nancy pelosi and chuck schumer essentially defend a benefit with this deduction has 80% of people who receive it

making six figures. on other side, president, congress, frankly a lot of moderate democrats, you may have seen blue dog democrat group release a favorable statement yesterday as to the framework. these are mostly moderate and conservative democrats standing up for moderate and middle income tax cuts. we're eliminating 10% rate. most of the people in the rate will be expanded 0% bracket. we eliminate the 15% rate, go down to 12%. most of those taxpayers will have significantly lower rate. we're expanding child tax tax credit, doubling standard deduction. these things benefit middle income families. that is the focus of president's tax cut on individual side. stuart: given the timeline here, the president and you guys at the treasury and congress you want to get this done, signed sealed delivered this year, is that correct? >> yes. stuart: now do you need 50 votes in the senate to pass it or 60

votes? which is it? i don't know all about the reconciliation. i'm not sure about this. will you need 50 or 60? >> obviously as you saw yesterday with the president invitingenat donnelly, democrat from indiana, last trip from north dakota he brought senator heidi heitkamp he is making outreach in yesterday's speech. he is talking about bipartisan best practice tax reform and tax cuts historically, whether you look at kennedy, reagan, beyond. always something as both parties agree to do. unfortunately hyper political, hyper partisan obstructionist environment today. president is making outreach. we pass this with 51 votes if we get the proper reconciliation comments and if we pass the budget. we're confident. stuart: tony sayegh, appreciate it. got it. >> thanks, stuart. stuart: i want to get to health care. anthem insurance is pulling out of obamacare exchange in maine next year. tommy thompson joins us, former health and human services secretary.

tommy, spell this out for me. what's going to happen here? i see obamacare imploding, collapsing. what is the end became here. >> the endgame has got to be, stuart there will have to be a bipartisan approach to health care because reconciliation is going to end up at the end of the month unless they're able to do some sort of miracle work in the next 72 hours, they will have to have bipartisan support but you will find in the past history, stuart, when things really get bad, when there is almost a paralyzed situation, or a tremendous chronic problem like health care is going to be with the collapsing of obamacare, congress actually does work. and i think congress will see it and i think they're going to have a bipartisan approach. stuart: what do we get? if you bring, one thing that the democrats really want is a single-payer system. if not that, they want a huge bailout of the existing system with a whole lot more taxpayer

money, and continuation of the existing system. >> that's true. stuart: if you make this bipartisan deal weo not get rid of obamacare, we don't have a new system. we have the old system with a little tinkering going on. that is all we get. >> well i hardly ever disagree with you, stuart, but on this one i think you're wrong. i think you have to be a little bit more optimistic because the republicans still control, and they still, if they are able to negotiate, they haven't done a very good job on health care yet. but i still believe i'm an optimist as it relates to health care. i think health care is so important, that congress is going to come together. they have to realize that more money is not going to fix it. otherwise, obamacare would have worked. they're going to have to come to finding some cost reductions and that's something they never did in obamacare. they will have to find cost reductions. they will have to have more competition. they will have to allow

insurance companies to come back in to make money on particular products they sell. there has to be more choice, they have to allow consumers to have those choices. i really, sincerely believe, better mind and believe that really want to do the right thing can come together to get a health care bill that works. stuart: i admire your optimism, tommy. leave it at that. >> i would like to say i loved your commentary at the beginning of the hour. thank you very much, stuart. you are truly a hero. stuart: you can come back anytime, tommy. you want to anchor the show? it yours. thank you very much, tommy. much obliged. we have breaking news, fox learned that house majority leader steve scalise will return to capitol hill today, first time since h was shot at baseball practice game on june 14th. scalise is expected to speak on the floor of the house. we'll bring it to you live when he makes that appearance and

makes that speech. good stuff indeed. check this out please, houston texans rookie quarterback, deshawn watson, his first game paycheck, 27,000-dollars to three woman work at cafeteria. all affected by hurricane harvey. he is no stranger to kindness. he grew up in a house built by habitat for humanity. three major tax cuts. we'll ask the chair of the house budget committee how she keeps deficit from exploding. spike lee compares nfl owners to plantation owners. the anthem protest story is not going away. you're watching second hour of "varney & company." ♪

stuart: we are down 23 points for the dow industrials after 45 minutes worth of business. that is not a selloff but look at this. rite aid down again today, falling sales there. that's near 11-% loss. 11.4% loss going down as we speak. two bucks a share for rite aid. president trump says the middle class will be the big winners if the tax reform plan passes. roll that tape. >> we're going to cut taxes for the middle class, make the tax code simpler, more fairer foreveray aricans and we'll bring back the jobs and wealth that have left our country, and most people thought left our country for good. stuart: i think the tax cut plan will produce growth but i also think it might swell the deficit in the short term. so why not bring in, diane

black, republican from tennessee, the chair of the house budget committee. i don't think there is any way around it, ma'am. i don't think you can avoid swelling the deficit. you have got three hurricanes to pay for and a tax cut which does, lessen the revenue to the treasury in the very early going. i don't see how can avoid it short term running up the deficit. what say you? >> well, you are right, in the short term we are going to see things will haveequalize but you know, stuart, when you cut taxes, you put more money in the economy you have a tremendous amount of growth. considering the fact we have been less than 2% for the last eight years, anything above that is good. i think we'll see, we're already seeing 3% growth without even doing this so it will equalize. stuart: what are you projecting? you're on the budget committee. you chair it. >> i am. stuart: if this tax-cut package goes through roughly as it is now and i think we know the rough outlines of this package, what kind of growth rate do you

think we can get next year? >> we've been really cautious on our budget committee and of course our budget was done several months ago before we saw the economy pick up but we used good, conservative comments help us and we're looking at 2.7% growth for 10-year period. i think it will be so much more. we were very conservative in the estimates. we didn't want anyone to say we're beyond what will actually happen. stuart: it has to be a lot better than 2.7% if you are going to pay for these tax cuts. >> that's right. we're looking at least three, it is 3.1% on gdp growth over the last quarter. we're excited that the economy will grow. it does. which know that is the principles. you put more money back in the economy. people have more money in their pockets, which means more goods and services and that means more growth. stuart: okay. >> in addition to what we're going to do in the tax code. stuart: i want to talk to you about steve scalise. i don't know if you heard the

announcement a few minutes ago. fox news learned he will return to capitol hill, just tweeted this apparently, that he will make a speech or presentation of some sort on the house floor. are you going to be there to welcome him? >> oh, my goodness, i'm here in statuary hall. i know he will come through in few moments. you will hear cheers if i'm still on but we're so delighted to know steve is well enough to come back to say hello it us. we've been watching progress. that is tremendous. what miracle here to have him with us. stuart: that was his tweet by the way, i'm back. that is basically all he said. i hope if he walks past you, if you meet him, pass along best wishes from "varney & company" t would be great to see him back. >> i will absolutely did do so for you. stuart: thanks very much. diane, always good to see you. see you again soon. >> great to be with you as well. stuart: now i have with me lawrence jones, before we -- i

have to do this. this tiger woods. he says he may never return to professional golf. is this because of his injuries? ashley: yeah. he had what they call back fusion surgery in april. he only played in 15 tournaments since 2015. he was out the entire 2015, 2016 pga tour season. it is frustrating for him. he is in rehab. doing six days of heavy exercise a week but he can see a scenario when asked by a reporter that he would never play tournament golf again which is very sad. he turns 42 in three months time. he is trying to get into shape. this back problem has dogged him for some time now. it is a shame, we all know what he did for the game. stuart: yes. lawrence jones. >> if you leave the drugs alone, he could probably -- stuart: weren't they pain-killing drugs? >> he was messing around with other women, tiger needs to get back focused and that is his

problem. he took it hard when his father passed away. he hasn't been quite the same ever since. there are a lot of people like me counting on him. need to get back focused, focus on his health, i think he can make a comeback. focus on family and nonsense with the pills and stuff, he is fighter. we want to see the fighter. stuart: you're a tough guy, aren't you? >> i believe in him. he let me down. stuart: during the commercial break you were saying you thought soccer was a boring game. ashley: take that back right now stuart: you think golf is boring game? >> that is pretty good. it is relaxing. i'm learn. i'm learning. stuart: what is your handicap, other than your game? ashley: not liking soccer. >> grown men kicking ball around. stuart: scheduled to stay with us for 40 minutes. are you sure you want to stay?

[laughter]. we'll talk manchester united if you're not careful. list to this, the left just want quit. supreme court justice ruth bader ginsberg, no doubtexis affected the election. i want jones' comments on that after this. ♪

stuart: we all remember -- they turned themselves into complete, transformed themselves into a software company. they're making money. the stock is up 15%. not bad, lawrence jones, you remember the blackberry?

>> i have one. stuart: still? >> i have one, yes. stuart: supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg says she is sure that sexism affected the 2016 election. lizzie. liz: she says sexism is she has no doubt told that to cbs's charlie rose. 42% of women out there voted for trump. sexism didn't stop hillary clinton from campaigning in which is or michigan or pennsylvania. she didn't make those choices to campaign there. that is probably what ruined race for her. stuart: should a supreme court justice be making a comment about something a very political issue, a political election and identity politics? liz: that is an issue. ashley: she has done it before. >> she has always been crazy like that. she, my problem with her, she allows that to affect h decision-making on the bench. stua: that is the problem,

isn' it? it is political, she made a political statement so it might affect decisions on the bench. you can read that into her decisions. i don't think that is good. look at this tweet from house majority whip steve scalise. is simply says, i'm back. he is returning to capitol hill today, first time since being shot. that was june the 14th. we're told he will speak before congress. we'll take to the floor, when that happens. you will see it on this program. ♪

♪ stuart: lawrence jones, name that tune. >> i have no idea. stuart: oh, get out of here. >> i'm serious. stuart: that is the beach boys. >> way before my time. ashley: get around. get around. stuart: look, this show is fun, okay? [laughter]. now moments ago we actually turned positive on the dow. again we slipped back to a minus six. that is not much. i will call it dead flat. check out the big tech names. facebook, amazon are up. so is alphabet, microsoft down a fraction. apple is down a fraction. got news on that, give it to you shortly. walmart in the news, they're relaunching the their parents choice baby brand. far more importantly, they will offe free same day delivery in new york city. thatthat is a break-through for walmart. we have the outrain over the nfl protests continuing.

listen to this, a "huffington post" columnist says white athletes still standing for the anthem are standing for white supremacy. director spike lee says president trump is acting like a plantation owner for urging nfl owners to for players that kneel. role tape. >> when he says, he was telling owners like, they are plantation owners and guys playing in the league, they're on the plantation, and you can't say anything. so, the thing really escalated. stuart: i don't get it, but lawrence jones is here, maybe he can straighten me out. what is your position? >> when you result in that type of language, you derail the conversation. there is a conversation about what the president said. the president broke number one rule as businessman, never comment anybody's businesses. like someone going into trump tower saying fire these people. he broke a rule by doing that

the problem what the president said is shared by many other americans. they belief it is disrespectful to the anthem, and country. i get where they coming from. at the end of the day the protest was losing steam. you had three people deciding to kneel. a lot of people didn't support colin kaepernick because he wore socks with cops as pigs t was losing steam. got down to three people. when the president decided to get involved, then the conversation was no longer about the original conversation about police brutality, all that crap. it was about now, taking on the president, him getting involved in a private business. stuart: what you object to the president what he said, his involvement in this dispute which would probably have gone away? >> right. it was over. it was dying. he got involved and stirred the pot. stuart: i have a question. something i don't understand, tonight the green bay packers are playing "thursday night football." >> the bears. stuart: the bears, the packers

asked their fans to link arms in show of what unity, was it? ashley: to come together to show unity. not quite sure what the message is. stuart: unity for what, against who, for what? lawrence, straighten me out. >> i think the conversation now is no longer about the original purpose as i said. this is now anti-trump. stuart: yes, it is exactly right. liz: making free speech argument. >> i would disagree about the whole free speech thing this is not a government. let's be clear a private business has right to fire whoever they want to fire especially wearing their uniform. stuart: right. >> problem the nfl and owners are standing with their players. so when you have the president going on twitter still saying fire them, you're getting involved in a private business already made a decision on the issue. stuart: okay. i will update the steve scalise situation, if you don't mind me putting it like that. he is expected to go on to the house floor and vote in the next few minutes. that will be his first

appearance on capol hill i'm sure of that, certainly on the house floor since that june shooting which took him out of action for a few months. well he is back. he tweeted this morning "i'm back." he will appear on the house floor momentarily. ashley: will make comments to his colleagues. that should be very interesting. not to vote but -- liz: lawrence jones made a great point, where were the calls for unity after shooting. democrats were calling for unit, right, lawrence? >> it didn't last a week. i hope he comes back bring sanity to the chambers. hey, when i was gone you guys said you would be praying and getting along? can we do that now? if the country needs anything, is unity. on nfl field, across the country. we need to tone it down. stuart: steve scalise had a few words with speaker paul ryan. i think that is an old shot. that is definitely old file footage of steve scalise. but he has returned to congress

today. he is returning to the house floor. we are told he will be voting, i'm not sure on what issue, but he will be casting a vote at some point in the last few minutes. then he will make comment to his colleagues from the lecturn on the house floor. ashley: right. stuart: that is a wonderful thing. welcome back steve scalise. great to have you back. i agree with you, right after the shooting all the calls for unity, that was june 14th. and now -- >> people are kneeling in the capitol. i don't believe congress. they use moments as symbolic measures, but when it comes down sitting at table, working together, they d't. stuart: i think that is well-stated actually. i will be intrigued what the reception is when he is on the house floor. i'm sure it will be a great reception. ashley: all around. stuart: dow jones industrial average is down five points. that is where we are right now, 22,335. you know, we talk about the market is down. the dow is at 22,335 for heavens

sake. ashley: let us not forget. stuart: let us not forget. lord. what have i got now? tell me please. i am lost. what am i doing? okay. i'm told hold on a second. ashley: cricket. cricket. [laughter] liz: we have so much fun. stuart: this is anchors in the news business. we learn how to tap dance. you vamp, fill up some space. ashley: vamp away mr. varney. stuart: vamp away, varney. i will read this. people wanting to get the new apple 10. well, you are going to have to wait, probably until february. there are production problems. fill out time and tell me. liz: first time we've seen this in eight years in the apple iphone. this is iphone x. it is facial recognition software. the technology is not there for mass production. that is according to several wall street analysts.

fourth quarter, apple could have rocky numbers. possibly the first quarter too. supposed to go on sale november 3rd. the inventory may not be there. technology production problems are hitting them. stuart: that is the point. if you can't get it on the store shelves or wherever you get it -- >> there was a fail during the reveal. during the reveal. liz: apple is now saying, 13-year-old children can not use facial rogon to unlock their phones because the won't be identified by the stwe. stuart: that is the technology that has gone wrong, right? ashley: let us not forget the new apple watch, cell connectivity that doesn't connect. this is another black eye for apple. stuart: where is apple's stock right now? i have it around 154 at the moment? it reached 165, 166 before the release of the x, the iphone x. then it dropped all the way back with that very poor release,

technology problems. 153 this morning. that hurts. that was not expected. this is the first major hiccup with a new introduction from apple. i believe it is. liz: we were talking about apple as first one trillion dollar market value stock, right? stuart: yes, we were. liz: it would have to hit 194 to get that. this was in anticipation of the phone. stuart: we have chad pergram on the phone, our producer in washington, d.c., for the fox news channel. chad, bring me up-to-date on steve scalise returning to work today. >> sure. we're expecting him on the house floor any minute. i might have to jump if he materializes. i'm standing out here behind the door. the house voting. this is the percent return to the capitol since the shooting on june 14th. he was in hospital a long time. he was in a patient habilitati facility. i talked to house speaker paul ryan had a private meeting. what was that like.

the speaker kind of sighed. he was a bit overcome. he said i don't have words. this is expecting toking emotional day here in the house of representatives, steve scalise, house majority win, who has been out since the shooting in june, back to the capitol. we're told he will be back to work. he is still going to rehabilitation. dealing with serious hip issues, where he was shot on june 14th. we'll see him on the house floor soon. stuart: soon. i take it next few minutes, actually. >> right. right. they're in this vote, if you hear bells behind me, those are the voting bells signaling they're voting. so they are in middle of this vote series now. we expect a big swell of bipartisan applause. probably some tears. we expect to hear from him on the house floor, soon as well. thanking officers who saved his life, the medical team that saved his life. don't forget there were other people wounded in this. in particular the capitol police

officers. crystal griner, david bailey, member of his protective detail. he gets a detail since he was in leadership. there were house aides, look by it for tyson food who was injured seriously as well. stuart: chad, what our viewers are looking at the moment is camera shot from capitol hill. it looks like a corridor. >> right. stuart: looks like the crowd i thering. you're on the periphery of that crowd? >> no, actually he will not go through that hallway. that is statuary hall. that is the old house chamber. i'm at a backdoor where the speaker ceremonial office is, leads through the lobby, and to the house floor. he will come that back way to go to the house floor. i'm told he will go on crutches. he has been getting around with scooter. but i'm told he will get in the chamber on crutches. he is not coming down that way now. we might see him down statuary hall later but his first appearance is on statuary hall.

stuart: wonderful thing, a man comes back after being shot in dramatic fashion. back he comes to take his place on capitol hill and cast a vote, make comments to his fellow congresspeople. i think that is fine thing. we're going to carry it live, chad. i hope you can stay with us to help us through this thing. >> i will stay with you as long as i can. i have to go out to the house chamber when he comes in. we'll get back on the horn with you as quickly as possible. stuart: chad pergram, you're all right. thanks for joining us. i want to divert to the market for a second. keep that shot up. we're waiting for scalise. look at this. row cue selling shares to the general public first time today -- roku. ipo, is correct depression today. it went out $14 a share. it is trading at 15.90. that is interesting, ipos, recently new technology coming ontream, offering shares for the public for first time, not

always well-received. ashley: not always. stuart: this one has been, climbing as we speak. it just opened for business. three million shares traded. 16 bucks a share. a gain of 15, nearly 16% right there. i think roku is the first device-maker to go public. that is all it does. all it does has the box. ashley: i have it. it is great. >> i have one too. it is beautiful. stuart: am i right a box? ashley: no, it's a plug. you stick it in the back. >> it is 49 bucks, technology used for new live tvs, movies and all that. that is what technology is going. plug it right in. stuart: what we've got here is, left-hand side of your screen, congress waiting for return of steve scalise. he is in the building, will vote, make a statement at some point. we're carry that row cue going public. starting to trade.

it is popping 16% higher. with us tom reed, republican congressman from new york. i sir, want to talk to but the return steve scalise to start with. we're all happy. great to see the man back. >> unbelievable. steve is grat man. we know him an his family, my wife and i. this is a great day. shows you spirit of who steve scalise is raul b he is fighter passionate. having him back here is one of my best days here in congress. stuart: tom, forgive me, i will digress for real business as opposed what is happening on capitol hill at the moment. i want to talk to you about ending deduction, maybe, for state and local taxes. i'm sure all in favor of tax reform, but you're from new york state. wealthy people in, who are constituents of yours, who may be republicans, that they don't want to see the end of the

deduction for state and local taxes because it's a high-taxed state. whose side are you on this one? >> obviously being on the committee writing tax code for america i'm sensitive what loss of deduction will do to our people back at home. i'm keeping open mind. we can't defend the status quo of the american tax code. maybe there is way to solve this. if this is problem that needs to be solved i will be a voice to make sure our interests are taken care of but at the end of day getting tax reform done. stuart: could be offering democrats to come to the other side. democrats like joe manchin, west virginia, heidi heitkamp, north dakota, you can entice democrats over to remove that deduction. >> we're making legislative sausage if you would. that is part of negotiating, food, sound policy at end of the day we need 218 votes out of the house.

51 votes out of the senate. we have to work toward to get things done. stuart: with the tax reform package as it is with new brackets and lower rate for corporations and for small businesses if that is the general shape of it, do you think will pass? do you think you get 50 votes in the senate and 218 in the house? >> i believe so. no one can defend the broken tax code today. we have to unleash middle class america. mom-and-pop businesses on main street they're carrying load on existing tax code. they're struggling. this will give them immediate relief. when you unleash middle class america, that will empower the economy to grow at rates we've never seen. stuart: hold on a second, tom. i want to digress to go back to the market because we turned higher. in the last ten minutes we turn ad deficit of what, 15, 20 points. we're up 16 points, gaining some ground. i want to draw your attention to the level, 22,355.

i lost track what is all time intraday high but we've got to be really close to it. i think this market is now reacting to the probability of a tax-cut package which gives us some growth. ashley: diane black says they have enough house republicans to pass the budget resolution. they expect a vote next thursday, a week from today. that will be needed for the tax legislation. that is filtering out there, which is good news. stuart: would you repeat that? i missed it. ashley: house budget republican chairperson says the house republicans have enough votes to pass the budget resolution. stuart: okay. ashley: that is vital in order to get tax legislation through. stuart: okay. we are waiting -- ashley: that could be good for the markets. stuart: still have tom reed with us. you just heard that from the budget chair, diane black. >> my budget chair right here next to me talking about that good news. stuart: that has got to be good news for tax reform. >> amen. that unleashes the vehicle to get this to the finish line.

to me this not just about 51 votes on the republican side. this is about getting democrats and republicans to come together. manchin and others in the senate, their opportunity to have good faith negotiations. being at white house recently we'll get this done further american people. stuart: what are you guys looking at? suppose you get the tax package as is, are we getting three, maybe 4% growth next year? do you think that's possible? >> i really do believe that is possible. everyone told us you would never see 3% growth in the near future. what did we have last quarter? we had 3% growth. this will add to that opportunity. that will make the economy hum and get people back to work. when we do that we solve a lot of problems across america. stuart: have you seen any sign of steve scalise? >> i have not. there is a crowd gathering, stuart. stuart: they are waiting for him? >> i think theyre. stuart: he will get a good bipartisan reception? >> absolutely. we're so blessed he is joining us, coming back to stand with us. he is a great person.

i have admiration for what he has done going through, handling it day-to-day. stuart: stay with us, tom. your thoughts, lawrence jones? >> i continue to go back. i'm very excited to have steve scalise back, but if i would ask the congressman anything, what will they do to move forward? especially what i'm hearing from diane black i'm interested to see if the senate, this should be bipartisan support, what will happen in the senate? will they have the votes? will it be bipartisan? i don't think it will. stuart: thanks, lawrence. the market turned up and we're waiting for steve scalise to return to the floor of the house of representatives. a very welcome return i might add. we'll be back too. ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone

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stuart: looking at the market. right-hand side of your screen. left-hand side, capitol hill, waiting for first appearance of steve scalise. he is back in the building. he will make a vote and speech very shortly. you will see it right here. why has the market turned around, we were down 20, 30, 40 points, now we're up 40. news from republicans? ashley: diane black saying house republicans have votes to pass

the budget resolution and they plan to do exactly that one week from today. important step to get the tax legislation through. stuart: so they got the votes in the house for the budget a week from today. ashley: correct. stuart: important news, that helped a turnaround. we also have news on insurance companies and an executive order from the president selling across state lines. liz. yes he said i will probably be signing a major executive order next week where people can go out to buy insurance across state lines. basically what he is saying, he will go to the department of labor, he has his officials doing that, to find out how they can get consumers to buy insurance as a group across state lines. this would be a major break through. what conservatives wanted for free market reform. stuart: lawrence jones is with us. he has been saying hey look, you senators, get something done, right? >> you have to get something done. when you have the house passing a record number of bills through the house. it's a fact. more than any pub-held house --

republican-held hughes house when it goes to the senate and dies, susan collins, run on another ticket. run on another ticket. are you part of the agenda or are you a part of the resistance? every single bill you have some objection. i don't understand how she will win re-election doing this, because you have to get something done. it can't be no, no, no to everything. stuart: which republican can possibly vote against cutting taxes? who is going to do that? which senator will actually say, no, you can't cut taxes? >> i guarranty you a senator like john mccain, would do something like this. he is on this moral thing of regular order, regular order, let it go to the democrats. the problem is such ideology difference between democrats and republicans on taxes and health

care. to take it through regular lard order is a waste of time. stuart: by the way, congressman tom reed is still with us. we thank you for that, congressman. he is republican from new york. let me ask you, what kind of republican votes against tax cuts. >> i don't know. we'll see what the process generates. there is broad agreement. i'm working across the aisle with the problem solvers caucus. they recognize the code is not working to the american people. they want relief for working class, middl class, mom-and-pops in our district, deserve us to govern. as lawrence said, we have to get something done for the american people. that is pressure that brings not only republicans but good faith democratic votes for table. stuart: thank you very much, tom. look, our viewers are looking to the house floor. steve scalise is about to enter the chamber, i believe on crutches. here he is. just listen to this.

[applause] [cheers and applause]

[cheers and applause] [cheers and applause]

[applause] >> the chair wishes to mark the return to the chamber of our dear friend and colleague from louisiana, mr. steve scalise. [cheers and applause]

>> our prayers have been answered. his bravery and his family's strength have been such an inspiration to this house and to the people it serves. america is grateful for this moment. the chair now proudly asks for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? [laughter]. >> to speak out of order, mr. speaker. [applause] [laughter]

>> the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. >> wow, thank you, mr. speaker. you have no idea how great this feels to be back here at work in the people's house. [applause] as you can imagine these last 3 1/2 months have been pretty challenging times for me and my family, but, if you look at the outpouring of love, of warmth, of prayer, my, gosh, jennifer and i have been overwhelmed with all that outpouring. it has given us the strength to get through all of this and get to this point today. and it starts with god. [applause]

when i was laying out on that ballfield the first thing i did once i was down, and i couldn't move anywhere, i just started to pray, and i will tell you it gave me an unbelievable sense of calm, knowing that at that point it was in god's hands but i prayed for very specific things and i will tell you, pretty much everyone of those prayers was answered. there were some pretty challenging prayers i was putting in god's hands but he really did deliver for me and my family and it just gives you that renewed faith and understanding that the power of prayer is something that you can not underestimate. [alause] so i, i am definitely a living example that miracles really do happen. the first place i want to go to

thank true angels along the way, starts with the united states capitol police. [applause] when i was elected majority whip, you know elected leadership has a security detail and if anybody ever wondered why we're assigned security detail i surely found out that day. let me tell you, i want to specifically mention crystal

griner and david bailey. [applause] [cheering] crystal and david were assigned to my security detail that morning and, day in day out, they're part of our family. jennifer and i truly treat them as part of our family. they're with us everywhere we go. on that day was no different. on june 14th they came, 6:30 in the morning, we arrived at baseball field just to play and practice for a game of charity baseball. nobody would have suspected what ensued. yet as soon as those shots were

fired, i tell you when i was laying on the ground, one of the things i prayed for is that david and crystal would be successful in carrying out their duties and both david and crystal are incredibly well-trained, incredibly professional. when i was laying there not long after the first couple shots were fired i could hear a different caliber of weapon. that told me they had immediately engaged the shooter. let me tell you, if they didn't act so quickly, even after being shot both themselves, continued to engage the shooter and ultimately got him down, which not only saved my life but saved the life of a lot of other people here in this chamber today. crystal couldn't be with us today, but david bailey is with us. david, you are my hero. you saved my life. thank you so much. [applause]

i also, owe thanks to a lot of people on the field with me. right after thehooter was down, a lot my colleagues came and ran to check on me. one i want to mention in particular is one of those things that jennifer and i call the little miracles that happened, that day, throughout the next few months of our recovery. happened to have brad win strom on the field that day. he was first one to come to my side. as you know, brad is not only doctor, but decorated army ranger who served in combat. one of his roles and missions

was to take care of people wounded before they went off on the helicopter to get prepared. who would have thought god would put brad out there on the field with me, because the tourniquet he applied, many will tell you, saved my life so i could make it to the hospital in time with all the blood loss. brad, where are you at? >> right down front. [applause] [inaudible]. once i arrived at medstar hospital i was a little bit out of it at that point but luckily i ended up in therusted hand of dr. jack sava, and his great

team over at medstar. they gave me a second chance at life. and, through many, many surgeries where my life was truly in the balance a few of those, they did a wonderful job to insure i was well-taken care of, ultimately made it through to that point, so i could get through dr. golden and his team put me back again. which was quite a task, to the point where i'm able to relearn how to walk again. dr. sava, dr. golden, thank you for being here. thank you for your team's work. [applause] above all else i i want to my lovely wife jennifer.

[applause] those of you who know her know how strong jennifer is. she is incredibly warm and loving wife. she is an incredible mother to our children. and somehow, through the late nights and the surgery, all other things managed to hold our family together. to make sure harrison and madison were cared for as well. to this day, she is not only by my side, serving as a great mother. i'm lucky to have you. thank you for being here. love you, sweetheart. [applause]

while it has been a challenging time for my family, the thing that really overwhelmed us from the start was the outpouring of love and warmth, and prayers from southeast louisiana, the district that i represent. we saw blood drives at st. catherine. we saw prayer groups at first united methodist church in slidell, but what we also say prayer groups and well-wishes from people we never met before throughout all of your districts. you shared it with me. it was one of those things hard to comprehend. you had people from all walks of life that never met me before, yet they saw what happened, and they just wanted to offer prayers. and let me tell you to each and everyone of you, please convey it to your constituents, i sure convey it to my constituents back home, that warmth and love

gave just incredible strength you can't imagine during really, really difficult times. so that is one more example of the power of prayer. something else i saw first-hand wasn't a surprise to me, but it was outpouring of love from you, my colleagues. both republican and democrat. i know right after the shooting, we were practicing on the republican side and the democrats were practicing too. and my colleague and friend and sometimes arch rival in baseball from back home in new orleans, unfortunately the star of the game too many times, set -- cedric richmond somehow figured out which hospital i got sent to and came there with his uniform on to check on me. both of you democrat and republicans reached out in ways i can't express the gratitude, how much it means to me, jennifer and our whole family.

it shows the warm side of congress very few people get to see. so i want to thank each and every one of you for that. you don't know how much it meant to me. when i come back into the chamber here today, seeing faces of all of you, it just means more to me than you can man. thanks for all of that love, and support. [applause] a lot of people asked, did this even change you? and i think those of you who know me, know i'm optimistic person. i'm a fun-loving person. i'm from south louisiana and we believe you work hard and you play hard and -- is an event like this going to change that? yes i can tell you, yes it changed me, not in ways you might think. it only strengthened my faith in god and it's really crystallize

ed what shows up as the goodness in people. i got to see that goodness in people. and so while some people might focus on a tragic event and an evil act, it me, all i remember are the thousands of acts of kindness and love and warmth that came out of this, kept me going through all of it. just re-emphasized just how wonderful most people are and how much compassion there is out there. and finally i want to talk about something that i guess hit me and probably struck me more than anything that i was not expecting. that was the outpouring of love and support from world leaders. people i have met and have known, benjamin netanyahu and i have had some incredible conversations from the hospital. theresa may reached out. king abdullah of jordan, some of us have met reached out but other world leaders reached out. people i had never met before

and that touched me in a different way because each and everyone of us come here, fight for the different things we believe n i have passionate beliefs. for some reason some of you don't agree with all of those. [laughter]. it is so important to come up here. we are the people's house. these are the place where these ideas are supposed to be debated. we fight through those issues but ultimately we come together on whatever the board is shows 218. if you can put the majority together, that is what rules the day. it is so important as we're having political battles we don't make them personal. one of the things i saw, this is the thing that really kept coming back to me i tried to make sense of all this, comprehend the outpouring of love that i saw, it kept coming back to those world leaders. why would leaders from around the world i had never met before reach out say, steve, we hope

you can get back to work, we hope you can come through this? what it says is, sure, they cared about my well-being, but more than that they saw this as an attack on all of us. they saw this as an attack on the institution of the united states congress and our government. they really count on us to be successful. look, we all know the united states is the leader of the free world. it is something that we frankly had the honor as a country to hold as a distinction for generations. and yet, when you look at that title, what it really means, there are people all around the world that want freedom, maybe that have freedom, but they know the united states being strong is critical to the rest of the world having opportunity for freedom. ♪ [applause]

that's why i'm so excited to be back because, as we're fighting through the issues of the day, let's just keep in mind that we rise above the challenges of the day, and understand that it is not just us and our constituents and the country, the united states is counting on us being successful. people all around the world that believe in freedom count on us as well. we will deliver for them. that is why i'm so honored to be back here in the house serving with you. god bless each and everyone of you and god bless the united states of america. [applause] stuart: steve scalise has returned to the house of representatives with an emotional and joyful speech to be back. there wasn't a breath of politics in that speech and both sides of the aisle were on their feet consistently applauding the man on his return. our thoughts, everybody? i think that was --

ashley: terrific. very emotional. stuart: heart-lifting and fine emotional moment. ashley: yes. stuart: louie gohmert right there, frequent guest on his program, congratulating him on his return. kevin brady, house ways and means committee. i think i saw nancy pelosi was there. everybody was on their feet. welcome back to steve scalise. that was a fine moment of unity, i would have to say. but again there was no politics there. i didn't detect a single whiff of politics. ashley: no. stuart: i'm glad to be back but there was a mention of religion, that is something i have seen so much of just in the last few months in this country. with harvey in texas, irma in florida, and steve scalise on the floor of the house, invoking god, invoking religion and prayer. i thought that was remarkable. liz: that was remarkable. >> mr. speaker, with that i yield back the balance of my time. >> gentleman yields back balance of time. for what purpose does the

minority leader seek recognition? stuart: let me draw your attention to the stock market. maybe we leave that up. talk market for a second. we've seen a turnaround. we were down 30 or 40. moment turn around came, ashley you gave news from the house budget committee. repeat the news. ashley: chair diane black, says we believe, we have the votes, gop votes to get the budget resolution through on a vote next thursday, one week from today. if congress can get the budget resolution through, through reconciliation they can put tax reform legislation through the senate on simple majority vote, which they currently hold, 52 to 48. it's a big move. we'll see. it is a very necessary step for the tax reform to get through. stuart: herb london is with us. my interpretation of this tax package is, it is a big deal for the business. it is about the growth of the economy. that is the main thrust of the

tax reform package and your main point is? >> it's a pro-growth proposal. it makes a lot of sense. it cuts back on corporate taxes to allow the united states to be competitive again. it repatriates dollars back to the united states. it provides benefits for the middle-class americans. that makes a lot of sense. the worry i have devil in the details. there are a lot of people marching up and down k street, trying to lobby people of congress on various aspects of this legislation. i'm a little concerned about that but i believe it is the right direction for the country. stuart: the big deal, whether you keep the state and local deduction for sales taxes. i'm not grinding my own axe, i will pay dearly if they do this but -- liz: sorry, california is waking up saying hey, wait a second, that is $100 billion haircut to us if the state and local property tax deduction goes away. watch this, local democrats saying hey, we pay a lot into

the system in federal tax revenues. so why -- they're waking up to have attacks system work -- the tax system works. >> mind you, two states, california and new york would be adversely affected. no question, they did not vote for donald trump. important to understand the political ramifications of this. liz: three of those states get hit state and local tax did not go for trump. stuart: according to numbers they've seen, if you withdraw that deduction, state and local income taxes the treasury gets an extra $1.25 trillion over next 10 years. liz: that's correct. stuart: that is money it play with. you can cut elsewhere. >> exactly. stuart: you cut that big one out, 1.25 trillion how about that? speaking of cutting things out, how about getting rid of the death tax. we happen to have with us a farmer. his name is kip tom. he got a shoutout yesterday, joined the president's speech in indiana. watch this, everyone.

>> with us today is kip tom, a family farmer, from leesburg. where is kip? hi, kip. [applause] who fears that his family's farming heritage, been a long time. how long, kip? >> [inaudible]. >> 187 years. that is peanuts, kip. wow, that is long time. [applause] but that great heritage could come to an end because of the death tax or estate tax and could make it impossible for him to pass the legacy to his wonderful family. stuart: look who, that gentleman right there. his name is kip tom. he joins us from leesburg, i do believe. thanks for being here, sir. we're much obliged to you. >> honor to be with you this morning. left cornfields of northern indiana, to be with stuart varney. a great day for me. stuart: flattery, sir, is the mother's milk of television, so

you can stay all day here, sir. if we still had an estate tax, it is still in place of course, is there a danger you could lose the farm that you have had in your family for 187 years? >> absolutely. you know, i think what you have to realize, structural changes have occurred in agriculture over past 40 or 50 years. when my parents started farming, they operated a 120-acre share crop farm. over that period of time we grown to substantial operation across seven counties in northern indiana now. we have number of family members, 30 employees, another smaller operation in argentina. but we're focused on growth. we focus on reinvesting capital. we take a risk. we know there is challenge feeding growing global population. we want to make sure we're one of the farmers invested to grow our operation. stuart: kip, most people who have accumulated some money in their time have an army of

estate lawyers to get out of any estate tax. i guess you're not prepared to get an army of estate tax lawyers on your side? >> we do have that. we have ongoing discussions with state attorneys trying to figure out ways to manage through the death tax. hopefully that we see it repealed or taken away, in president's tax reform proposal. so, but we will continue to have ongoing discussions. a lot of those have element of life insurance, when you get my age, 62 years old, it gets pretty expensive. our goal to transition the family business. call it a farm or family business, transition it to the next generation. i'm the seventh, the 8th is coming on. we want to make sure everything we invested in the past continues to have momentum and velocity into the future. anytime we pay a large tax, 40% tax in front of us today, it will slow a business like ours down and cripple our growth

along the way. stuart: would you get any advantage from some other provisions of this tax proposal? for example, lowering the top corporate tax rate to 20%? or making the top individual, the top small business rate of 25%? those are to your advantage as well i take it? >> yes, they are. yes, they are. you know we'll be, we do all pass-throughs. it will be individual taxes. coming down to 25%. but getting surety in the tax code and tax reform will really help us to invest in future. it gives us confidence to put capital back in the business. continue to grow the business for the future. stuart: kip, we want to thank you very much indeed for coming on the show today. i'm sure you had extremely busy day. it is fun being in the media though, isn't it? >> yes it is. i go back up to the cornfield now. stuart: get back up there, lad. kip tom, it was a pleasure. thank you, sur much obliged. >> have a good day. stuart: herb london what do you

say to that? >> end of death tax makes a lot of sense particularly for family businesses we heard about. it is the right direction for the country. a lot of people will argue big businesses do not desieve the elimination of the estate tax but primarily small businesses in the united states that derive benefits. stuart: if you're in your 40s or 50s, running a farm or successful business, and you make the mistake of dying intestate without an estate, you're dead. that business will be taken off of you because of the death tax. liz: after you have been paying taxes into the system all these years, right? stuart: if you have a couple of billion dollars you have an army of lawyers who make sure that you don't pay a dime to anybody. that is the way it works. who is it, warren buffett, he has got what, $80 billion. do you think he will die to pay estate tax? no, he will give it all to the gates foundation.

he won't give a dime to the government which he so loves. i'm on my high horse. walk it back a little. ashley: deep breath. stuart: more breaking news on this hour, left-hand side of your screen, senators lindsey graham, bill cassidy, they head to the white house to talk to president trump about health reform, despite their idea being canned a couple days ago. on the right, speaker paul ryan, he is expected to give his weekly address. if he does, we'rexpecting to hear more about the return of steve scalise. stay there, we have it all for you. ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can

♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone

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>> as you can imagine these last three and a half months have been pretty challenging times for me and my family. but if you look at the outpouring of love, of warmth, of prayer, my gosh, jennifer and i have been overwhelmed with all of that outpouring, and it's given us the strength to get through all of this and to get to this point today. stuart: isn't that good? doesn't it make you feel good? steve scalise, shot on june

14th. the man is back, standing ovation frequently from all members of the house who were there. heartwarming stuff and great to see. left-hand side of your screen, that's the white house, of course. on their way to the white house, senators bill cassidy and lindsey graham. they're going the talk to the president again about obamacare repeal and reform even though their bill was -- it wasn't even brought to a vote, it was dead before it arrived, but they're going to talk about it some more with the president momentarily. right-hand side of the screen, speaker paul ryan will give his weekly address. we may get some answers, some detail maybe on tax reform. we're monitoring it. if he says something that's germane to the markets or to politics, we will take you there. all right. by the way, the dow industrials now up 26 points and rising. 32,367. -- 22,367, we're about 50 points away from the all-time record intraday high, so we're right at record levels.

come on in, please, dan henninger, "wall street journal"'s editorial page deputy editor. all right, dan, the big talking point in the markets today and for the economy is this tax package outlined by the president yesterday. as you saw it, do you think that that package is politically doablesome -- doable? >> i do, stuart. i think it's been put together very shrewdly. for instance, the 25% pass-through rate, there's been some of these smaller business -- the national federation of iependent businesses, r instance -- has had its doubts about whether you could do any disparity between the corporate rate and the pass-through. i think probably the five points is going to be enough for them. that'll be fine. i think they're going to have some fights on state and local tax deductions, but, you know, there's a -- as the blueprint said, a lot of this is going to go through committee, and i think there are going to be some

tweaks to address some of the most politically enoughal jibbing points -- neuralgic points, perhaps decreasing the level of mortgage dedictions in high-tax -- deductions this high-tax states, eliminating the state and local tax deduction. if they pass this tomorrow morning, i would be dancing in the street. i think this is a terrific blueprint. stuart: i think you just boosted the market a bit there, dan. very good, son, well done, indeed. >> why not? [laughter] stuart: it's thursday. i've got to ask you about your column in today's "wall street journal." you write wonderland every thursday, and today it's called why i prefer baseball. and then you've got a sub-headline, many americans think the national anthem's last words are play ball. we like that article, dan. [laughter] tell us about it, go on. >> well, you know, i felt that i had to react to what was going on with the taking of the knee in the nfl, lebron james

tweeting that the u.s. is u-bomb and this kind of battle between basketball, football and the president of the united stes. you know, stuart, life is short, and we all watch too much sports on television, and i've decided that with what time i have to watch sports, i'm watching baseball rather than professional football or baseball. and it's not just because of this controversy, it's because i think there's not much politics in baseball. and i think you find with baseball players there's a kind of internal code of conduct that they have developed as they come up through the minor leagues. and what they understand is they have to sublimate their egos, their outside compulsions and do it on behalf of their team. all the time when you hear a baseball player interviewed, they say i just want to do what i can for the team. unlike the football players who are doing somersaults and so torte in the end zone -- so forth in the end zone, drawing attention to themselves. and i think it's the code of

conduct you see among baseball players, the kind of concentration on the goal at hand that i simply prefer to what's been going on in the nfl and in the nba. stuart: is this a conscious and a deliberate decision, i'm not watching football? >> well, you know, i've found it kind of boring for years. "the wall street journal" once calculated in the super bowl there's actually about 12 and a half minutes of actual action across the three and a half hours or so that you have to watch it -- [laughter] which is a little bit of a commitment. life is short, and we have to make decisions. but really they have gotten, both of these sports are full of players now that have decided that somehow the sport isn't enough for them. they have to go out and engage themselves in politics and other causes. the sports press for years has tried to guilt trip a lot of these players saying because of your status, because of your wealth you have to address the country's issues of race, gender, income inequality. and so some of them are doing that, and i think the rest of us

are entitled to make a decision whether we want to watch more of that or watch something like baseball which is about nothing but baseball. stuart: you know, the last game that i actually went to, i went to with you. we were at giants stadium -- [laughter] this must have been ten years ago, i guess. >> i remember that. stuart: it was freezing cold, and there was a flyover of f-16s, do you remember that? >> i certainly do remember it. stuart: and everybody ducked. [laughter] everybody was bowing down to them. okay, next sporting event, you and i go to yankee stadium. >> we'll know a little bit more about what's going on. i'm sure you must wonder, why am i here. [laughter] stuart: henninger, you're all right. see you again soon. >> all right. stuart: you're going to watch football? >> i am not. i will never turn on an nfl game again. stuart: really? >> look. i love football, i love basketball. i played basketball when i was a college student and, of course, i love baseball. but i i this dan -- i think dan

is absolutely right. when you have people who disrespect the flag and the country, and'm not entire -- and they're not entirely sure why they're doing it, it strikes me that i have the right of free speech as well. my free speech takes the form of not being at all interested in what the nfl or the national basketball league is doing. stuart: you surprise me. >> oh, i don't think it's surprising at all. i am very, very disturbed -- [laughter] very disturbed by what is going on at the moment. stuart: you've got a smile on your face. >> well, colin kaepernick was earning $10 million a year. he was adopted by white parents. he lived a life that was clearly middle, upper middle class. and now he's telling us he's going to be the moral arbiter of what we should do about race relations in america? it's absurd on its face. and it strikes me that if you want to, kaepernick wants to engage in some discussion, there are parks all over the united states. get a pedestal, pretend this is

hyde park -- >> speaker's corner. >> -- and speak your mind. bob kraft said something that was quite interesting. he said politics divides, sports unites. >> yes. stuart: yes, yes! >> then why insert, why insert the division of politics in sports? stuart: herb london, that's why you're on this show, the voice of reason and wisdom, all right. thank you very much. tax reform still the story of the day as presented by the president yesterday. come on in, congressman claudia tenney, freent guest on the program, and wait for it, a republican from new york state. so i have to ask what about -- [laughter] you know what's coming now -- >> i know. i'm ready. stuart: it is the elimination of the deduction for state and local taxes. that would really hurt any reasonably wealthy person in new york state. and you don't want it, do you? >> i don't love it, but there is a couple of other things that

are happening. we are doubling the standard deduction which would actually wipe out some of the negative parts about reducing the so-called state and local deduction, the s.a.l.a., state and local tax deduction. so, yeah. i'm leaning yes on this because i think if we can double the standard deduction, which would actually help the lower income tax brackets, the people that are the itemized, there's about 62,000 people in my district people who are itemizing, that would significantly go down if we double the standard deduction which is a good part of this. there are other really good parts about this tax reform that we desperately need. and as you know, i promised you that we would get tax reform done, and i i am going to try to deliver on that process so i don't stay up at night worrying about stuart varney. [laughter] stuart: stop it, stop it. so you'd say okay to this s.a.l.t. thing, state and local taxes, you would say okay so

long as it's balanced by other stuff elsewhere in the package which would balance it o? yore okay with that? >> i'm okay with it. stuart: so you're okay with the general outline of the package as it was delivered yesterday? >> yes, i am. and i went to tax camp, so we got to see a lot of, a lot more of the details on it. and overall i think it's going to be really helpful, because we're going to see the tax rates come down. we're going to see especially the corporate tax rate drop to 20% which is going to be really good for our manufacturers. and you're also going to see the repatriation, the money being incentivized to come back from foreign nations to the united states for reinvestment. that's going to be a really good part of it. it's going to be a lot simpler. yes, we are eliminating the so-called s.a.l.t. and other deductions, but i think it's going to be a simpler, fairer tax plan that's going to be reduction. it's not perfect. as i said, the s.a.l.t. is an issue for me, the state and local tax deduction, but i think the so-called doubling of the standard deduction giving people more money back, i think, is

going to help, and that's going to actually reduce or minimize the negative effects of s.a. l.a. i'm a person from new york who pays very high taxes, so that's why it affects us. stuart: okay. we had news about an hour ark dyeing january black chairs the budget committee. she saw ises, what was it? >> got the republican votes to get the budget resolution passed. stuart: budget resolution passed one week from today. >> correct. >> yes. stuart: claudia, that's very good news. >> yes. if we get the budget passed next week, taxefm de by the end of the year --hank you to stuart varney for pressing these issues -- those are really big wins for the republican side. [laughter] i'm very excited about i. i know, it's like -- we just go to stuart varney and have to get things approved, right? stuart: you're killing me. [laughter] claudia, thank you very much. >> thank you. great to see you. stuart: another story we're covering, president trump is considering an executive order that would allow people to go across state lines to buy their

health care insurance. big deal, more on that coming up. news coming thick and fast this hour. the market's near the high of the day. we're also waiting for speaker ryan, expected to hold his weekly news conference. we could hear about mr. scalise returning to the house, maybe tax reform, even the nfl. stay there, please, it's all happening now. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> i'm nicole petallides with you fox business brief. amazon prime customers, get ready for some football. stock's slightly highered today, certainly been a winner year to date, up almost 30%. amazon paid $50 million to be able to stream 11 nfl games. that begins this evening with the bears/packers game. and, in fact, they beat out two other companies, twitter and facebook, that were also in the bidding war. last year twitter paid $10 million, but amazon beat out twitter and facebook to have the opportunity to stream to their 80 million customers. and now the streaming, of course, will be coinciding with the telecast on cbs, of course, 16 million viewers average compared there for the year. ♪ ♪

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and there's a range of plans to choose from, depending on you needs and your budget. so if you're turning 65 soon, call now and get started. because the time to think about tomorrow...is today. go long. stuart: the issue of the day is the tax reform package as presented by the president yesterday. will it get done or not. joining us now, congressman jim jordan. freedom caucus member. sir, welcome to the program. >> good to be with as i underste freedom caucus says, yes, we like this. >> yep. stuart: okay, there's details to negotiate, but you like it and you're for it, correct, sir?

>> we think it's a great framework with. we did a piece last week in the journal, we think the framework we've seen is yes, we've said we want some specifics like what the corporate rate's going to be, what the repatriation rate, small business rate and what are the ratessen the personal side. -- rates on the personal side. we're going to get tax cuts for families, we're going to get growth, a simplified tax code. that's all positive, so let's move forward. stuart: can we get it done with 50 votes in the senate and the 18 in the house -- 218 in the house? >> i feel really good about the 218 in the house. the united states senate based on what we saw with health care, you know, that's anyone's guess. let's hope we've all learned this is something, just like health care, just like border security, that we told the american people we were going to do. let's get it done. i think we're off to a good start yesterday. i think it's being well received by folks in the business community, by regular middle chat families all over -- middle

class families owl over the country -- all over the country. stuart: where does jim jordan stand on the state and local tax deductions? >> we're going to double the standard deduction, lower rates, go from seven brackets to three, all positive steps. look, you want a simpler, flatter, fairer tax cold, you want one that lets people keep more of their money and produce economic growth, i think we're headed down that appropriate path. so let's keep moving. i'm for getting rid of the state and local deductions. stuart: i'm sorry i kept this short today, i do apologize, sir, but it's happeng thick and fast. mr. jordan, thank ifs or joining us -- thanks for joining us, sir. >> thank you, buddy. stuart: okay. i want to move on to health reform actually. president trump is considering an executive order that would let people buy insurance across state lines. you know, there's a national market for health insurance and coverage. judge napolitano is with us. i know what you're going to say. it's unconstitutional, and we can't do it.

make your argument. >> no, no, it's not unconstitutional. it can't be changed -- and, first of all, good morning, and it's nice to see you. [laughter] and i'm curious as to whether you stood for the national anthem in giants' stadium while you were a british subject -- stuart: of course. >> but we'll talk about that later. stuart: of course i did. >> one of the queen's predecessors, henry viii, would have lopped off your head for that, but that's an argument for another time. stuart: yes, it is. is it constitutional or not? >> the affordable care act permits the department -- the secretary of health and human services to authorize the sale of insurance across state lines. president trump indicated yesterday he's going to direct the secretary to do that. but it requires that they conform to all other requirements and provisions of obamacare. so if i'm in new jersey and i think i'm going to get a cheaper policy from montana, i'm not. it's going to be the same policy that is sold in montana pursuant

to obamacare. if i'm a 60-year-old male and i don't want -- stuart: judge, i'm terribly sorry -- >> i still have to have it. stuart paul ryan's speaking, and i believe he's talking about scalise. let's go. >> and how he mapped out just how hard a road this was going to be and how dire the situation was and where he's come from, from there to here? it really is miraculous. it's just amazing. and so to just see him there are sitting and standing and, you know, with a suit on and jennifer, just amazing. i mean, it was really something. so i really don't have words other than just relief and just thanks. chad. >> mr. speaker, to that end, i mean, he talked a lot about prayer and his prayers even starting out on the ballfield. talk about, you know, you sometimes talk about your faith. talk about what you were saying to god in prayer for him, his family, the house in general. you talked about being an attack on the institution and the american system. >> yeah.

i mean, i prayed constantly. you know, i'm a strong person of faith as well. as catholics, we don't usually wear it op our sleeves, but our prayers have been answered. we prayed for steve and his family, we prayed for crystal and bill hi who are friends of -- bailey who are friends of ours. we all know each other. and i also prayed for the country. you know, obviously i think the person was mentally disturbed, but to take political emotions and beliefs and to turn it into that is just an awful thing, and we have a lot of anxiety and a lot of polarization in this country because people have strong political beliefs. and i think to witness the bipartisanship that occurred right then and a, i think it's a good example to follow. i still think aut that picture of the democrats praying in the dugout when they were doing their practice that morning, and i think that's the example that ought to be set which is we have

differences. let's keep 'em in check, let's treat people with respect and let's pray for each other. and so out of these tragedies, good things can come from it. and i think that's a prayer that's been answered as well. so i just think there's a lot to be thankful for, and it's pretty amazing. >> mr. speaker -- stuart: i just want to make a comment here. i don't want to interrupt the speaker, but i to want to make a comment here. the speaker was just talking about faith and prayer overtly and publicly. and this is something which i have noticed in american life just in the last six months, the frequent mention of faith, religion and all these -- he's talking about the nfl. i want to go back to him now. >> when you do it on the flag and the anthem, it looks like you're protesting against the ideals of america, the patriotism, the people who put their life on the line, who have

given their life for the country. so i just don't think the proper -- i think it's misguided to protest the anthem and the flag because people don't see it as an issue on some political issue, they see it as protesting against the people who have given their lives for this country and the ideals that we all strive for to make a more perfect union. and so that's the point that i think some people are missing in this dat yeah. >> mr. speaker,. [inaudible] i was on -- >> [inaudible] >> yeah, yeah. [laughter] you can yodel if you want. [laughter] so the president has stressed again and again that his tax plan will not benefit the wealthiest americans. and i was wondering if you could commit to keeping that promise and if that would include a forced income tax. >> yeah, so the purpose of our tax plan is to help the middle class, and it's to help get jobs created and to help keep businesses in america and to help get money that's trapped overseas back into this country. that's the purpose of this tax

plan. and so the fourth bracket, the fourth rate, the goal of that is to make sure that the benefit on income earners attributes to the middle class. so that's the whole purpose of this tax plan. as you know if you've been covering this, this is the framework, and then within this framework we're going to work, and that's going to be up to the ways and means committee and can the finance committee to specify exactly how that's done. we introduced the idea that the rate reduction won't be as significant for high income earners because we want the relief to go to the middle class. yeah. >> you've talked about lowering tax rates on capital gains and dividends. it was in your blueprint but not in this framework. >> well, it's one of the casualties of the health care law not getting passed. and as some of you probably kw how the numbers work, you know, not getting the health care bill passed baked into the baseline that 3.8% tax, and that's like $170 billion. so it's all about, you know,

fiscal concern. stuart: i want to just come out of this for a second because speaker ryan has made a couple of important points. he's just been talking there about the skewing of the tax reform plan towards middle america, towards middle class families. not so much the benefits which will go towards more wealthy people. the thrust of the tax reform package is towards america's middle class. he was also talking about -- and i want to make this point again -- he was talking overtly about religion, rah prayer and faith. -- prayer and faith. do we still have the judge with us? >> i'm still here, stuart. stuart: i'm sure you heard that. >> i did. stuart: did it strike you the way it struck me? we're not used to this overtly in american public life, and here it is on full display. i love it, quite frankly. >> well, on this we are in full agreement, stuart. there are many people in the government who have interpreted the separation of church and state to suggest that you can't discuss god or faith in the

public arena. but in fact, the public arena is the appropriate and perfect place for this kind of conversation whether it's because the times are good or bad, whether it's because steve scalise miraculously -- thanks be to god -- survived, whether it's because paul ryan's looking for some unity amongst the combating parties, whatever it is. it's about time. stuart: yes. i'm in full agreement with you. now, we were in a discussion about whether or not the president could authorize by executive order the sale of health care insurance across state lines. and you were saying there's a problem with it. >> okay. so before obamacare i, as a resident of new jersey, could go to montana and buy a bare bones policy. i'm just picking montana. stuart: sure. >> if the regulators in new jersey would permit it. today there are no bare bones policies because obamacare

establishes a baseline for all policies everywhere. so if the president wants to permit across state shopping more bare bones policies tailored to the policy purchaser, he needs a new statute. stuart: so we have to wait for the end of the mandate to what insurance has to cover. >> yes. stuart: get rid of that, and then you can have a national market, correct? >> yes, we do. yes. and interestingly, you and i have disagreed on this, but the graham-cassidy bill did not permit what president trump is attempting to do by his executive order. had it, it might have had 51 votes. stuart: just a few hundred yards from where you are now in d.c., senators csidy and graham are on their way to the whiteouse to talk to president trump about obamacare repeal and reform. maybe this national market idea will be part of that discussion.

maybe. >> i wish them well. stuart: yeah. [laughter] i'm sure you do. judge, we'll see you tonight on "special report," is that correct? >> yes. thank you, stuart. stuart: thank you, judge, appreciate it. we're going to do something completely different. >> okay. >> monty python. stuart: that's right. let's have a little -- it's been a. [audio difficulty] foxnews.com automotive editor gary gastineau. he is behind the wheel of the new dodge demon. this thing goes 0-60 in 2.5 secondses. gary, you tell us all about it. show me. go ahead, drive the thing. >> first of all, let me warm it up, warm up the tires for you a little bit, okay? now i'm going to move off here. two and a half seconds, i did that earlier today. in fact, i did the quarter mile in 10.2 seconds. you can do it in under 10 seconds. i'm not that good. 840 horsepower, the most powerful ever.

$85,000, they're only making 3,000 of these this year. they're all spoken for. and -- [inaudible] this one is so cool. i'm going to take it right now, you're going to lose me, because i'm going to be way out of range. [inaudible conversations] [laughter] doing a little too much talking there! >> oh. >> that was my bad. stuart, that's what happens when i'm having -- stuart: wait a minute, is gary in that car? yes, he is. he's driving that car right now. >> and there he goes off into the sunset. stuart: you had us worried there for a second, gary. you made it out, i see, well done. >> i'm sure that looked pretty good. [laughter] stuart: we can't hear you very well, so i'll interrupt. the dodge demon, is that correct? the dodge demon, it goes 0-60 in

2.5 seconds. >> very handy in manhattan. [laughter] stuart: can we buy one? is it just available to the general public if you want to get out there and do some drag racing? >> you'd need it for your mcdonald's coffee. stuart: what was that, christy? tell me? >> 3,000 of them, $85,000, and they are already all sold out. the dealers have already been allocated. if you want one, you're going to have to go to craig's list, they're being listed there for $150,000 right now. >> 85,000, but they're already out. craig's list, you might get one for $150,000. stuart: thank you very much. ebay. >> craig's list. >> stuart: look at that. all right. so we've had an extraordina show today. lots, the main point for me, was steve scalise back on the floor of the house of rest. >> great moment. stuart: made a speech. everybody was there. everybody stood.

it was a fine, uplifting moment. liz: feel-good moment for both republicans and democrats. stuart: all going on with the nfl, political tour -- turmoil and contention, that was good stuff. regrettably our time is up. neil, it is yours. neil: wait a minute. you said regrettably. you said your time is up, but here is the italian. you didn't mean it like that. stuart: my name ends in a vowel sound. neil: that is closest you relate. that is good. you would no more buying the dodge demon. come on. stuart: no. neil: maybe an old plymouth duster. stuart: i used to have a porsche 911 turbo with whale tail, extra